Example 7 - MR. LETIL.

— This manufacturer, who resided in the environs of Paris, died in April of 1864, in a horrifying manner. A cauldron of boiling varnish having caught fire, in the blink of an eye his body was covered with incandescent matter, whereby he at once understood that he was lost. Being in the workshop with only a young apprentice, he still had the courage to make his way to his home, at a distance of more than two hundred meters.

When the first aid could be rendered to him, the lacerated flesh was already falling in pieces, the bones of a part of the body and of the face laid bare. Even so, he survived twelve hours of excruciating sufferings, but retaining all his presence of mind to the last moment, arranging his affairs with perfect lucidity.

In all this cruel agony not a single groan, not a single complaint was heard from him, and he died praying to God.

He was a most honorable man, of a gentle and affectionate character, loved and esteemed by all who knew him.

He had also embraced with enthusiasm, though with little reflection, the spiritist ideas, and thus it was that, being a medium, he did not lack innumerable mystifications, which, be it said, in no way shook his belief. His confidence in what the Spirits told him, in certain circumstances, went as far as naivety.

Evoked at the Society of Paris, on the 29th of April 1864, a few days after his death and still under the impression of the terrible scene that claimed him, he gave the following communication:

“A profound sadness weighs me down! Still terrified by my tragic death, I imagine myself under the irons of an executioner. How much I suffered!… oh! how much I suffered! I am trembling, as though sensing the nauseating smell of burned flesh.

An agony of twelve hours, that which you endured, O culpable Spirit! But he suffered it without murmuring, and for that reason he is going to receive from God his pardon.

“O my beloved, do not weep, for soon these pains will subside. I no longer suffer in reality, yet in this case the memory is as good as the reality.

The notion of Spiritism aids me greatly, and now I see that, without that consoling belief, I would have remained in the delirium of the horrible death I suffered.

“There is, however, a consoling Spirit who has not left me, ever since I breathed my last sigh. I was still speaking, and already I had him at my side… It seemed to me that it was a reflection of my pains producing in me a dizziness that made me see phantoms… But no; it was my guardian angel who, silently and mutely, consoled me through the heart.

As soon as I took leave of the Earth, he said to me: “Come, my son, behold the light of day again.” Then I breathed more freely, believing myself delivered from a dreadful nightmare; I asked after my beloved wife, after the courageous son who had sacrificed himself for me, and he said to me: “They are all on the Earth, and you, son, are among us.”

I sought the home, where, always in the company of the angel, I saw everyone bathed in tears. Sadness and mourning had invaded that once peaceful dwelling. I could no longer tolerate the spectacle, and, deeply moved, I said to my guide: “O my good angel, let us depart from here. Yes, let us depart, he answered me, and let us seek repose.”

“From then until now I have suffered less, and, had I not seen my wife and children inconsolable and my friends sorrowful, I would be almost happy.

“My good guide, my dear angel, made me see the cause of so painful a death, and to instruct you, my children, I am going to confess it:

“Nearly two centuries ago, I had a girl burned, as innocent as one can be at her age, she was more or less 12 to 14 years old.

What accusation weighed upon her? Complicity in a conspiracy against the clerical policy. I was then Italian and an inquisitor judge; as the executioners did not dare to touch the body of the poor child, I myself was the judge and the executioner.

Oh! how great you are, divine justice! Submitted to you, I promised myself not to waver on the day of combat, and it is well that I had the strength to keep the commitment. I did not murmur, and you pardoned me, oh! God!

When, however, will the memory of the poor innocent victim be erased from my mind? It is that memory which makes me suffer! It is needful, therefore, that she pardon me.

“Oh! you, adepts of the new doctrine, who frequently say that you cannot avoid evils through ignorance of the past! Oh! my brothers! bless rather the Father, because if such a memory accompanied you to the Earth, there would no longer be any repose in your hearts. How could you, constantly besieged by shame, by remorse, enjoy a single moment of peace?

Forgetfulness there is a benefit, because memory here is a torture.

A few more days, and, as a reward for the resignation with which I bore my pains, God will grant me forgetfulness of the fault. Such is the promise that my good angel has just made me.”

The character of Mr. Letil, in his last incarnation, proves how much his Spirit had perfected itself. The conduct he displayed would be the result of repentance as well as of good resolutions previously taken, but this alone did not suffice: it was necessary to crown these resolutions with a great expiation; it was needful that he endure as a man the torment inflicted upon another, and even more: the resignation which, fortunately, did not abandon him in that terrible contingency.

Certainly, the knowledge of Spiritism contributed greatly to sustaining his faith, the courage arising from the hope of a future. Aware that physical pains are trials and expiations, he submitted to them resigned, saying: God is just; therefore, it is that I deserved them.